Warehouse 13 S05E07 - The Sky Shall Burn
by stewbeef44
Summary: The continued story of Warehouse 13. Occurs after "Endless". Enjoy! Includes Stoshua (Steve/Joshua) and Pyka.
1. Prophecy

LONG AGO, IN THE CARETAKER'S CHAMBER OF WAREHOUSE 1:

"Alexander, please! You are Caretaker, you must not die!"

"No, I must. Socrates, you know full well my 'talent': every word I say comes to pass. And there will be others like me, other Caretakers of other Warehouses."

"I suppose that must be so, then..."

"Yes, it must. The Trident must be protected."

Alexander coughed. Even though he was leader of the world's greatest empire, and the Caretaker of the single most powerful weapon in existence, he could do nothing to prevent his own demise. Death, as it would seem, was inevitable.

"Socrates... hear me. What I am about to say will come to pass. On the eve of the consecration of Warehouse 14, a dragon with my soul shall rise and burn the sky..."

Suddenly, the emperor's eyes glowed with an unearthly color. He began to speak as though he were possessed.

"Are you alright? Alexander!"

"_When the heavens burn and the fires of the souls freeze, and time stops turning... the Old Ones will bring chaos with their darkness. All will crumble to the Void, and the impossible shall be realized..."_

Suddenly, Alexander burst into a black, cold fire. The flames leapt across the room. There was no escape. Socrates did what he had to: he tied the green ribbon that Alexander always used as a scarf around the dying man's arm, and shot the Caretaker's energy into the sky though it, the ceiling consumed in the fire. He prayed to the gods that the energy would strike a worthy Caretaker as the flames consumed them both.

In the town of Alexandria, a bolt of what appeared to be green lightning struck a girl named Cleopatra. The girl shrugged, not knowing she was the one who would be the Caretaker of Warehouse 2.


	2. Pete's Nightmare

_Pete and Myka walked through the Warehouse. Suddenly, Myka stopped._

"_What is it?"_

"_Hello again." The voice wasn't Pete's. It was Valda's. "Nice to see you. Especially the lovely Myka. It's too bad she won't be here much longer."_

_Pete reached out to strangle Valda, but he found himself frozen in place._

"_I will destroy everything you hold dear..." At these words, Myka burst into flames. "Too bad your father isn't here to save her, huh?" Valda said, amused at Myka's screams._

_The Warehouse then burst into flames as well. Myka was dead by now. Pete rose up into the sky, and for a split second, he saw two large, yellow eyes in the distance._

"_The sky shall burn..."_

Pete awoke screaming, with a worried Myka in bed next to him.

"Let me guess, another nightmare?"

"Yeah..."

The Farnsworth buzzed. Myka answered. "Artie, now really isn't the best time..."

"I saw Valda in the Lehmann Fornax. Get over here, now." Artie ended the Farnsworth call.

"Well, let's go."


	3. Release the Dragon

Pete and Myka raced down to the Lehmann Fornax. When they got there, Artie and Claudia were bound and chained at the edge of the pit leading down to the center of the Earth. Benedict Valda was waiting for them.

"So nice to see you again. Especially you, Myka."

"No... this is not happening..." whimpered Pete.

"Ah, I see the statuette of the Horseman of Fear worked. Excellent. It will make burning her much more enjoyable when you are reminded of your nightmares. Now... watch."

At that moment, Claire walked in. "Claire! Wonderful! More fun for me, I suppose."

"That's where you're wrong." She pulled the Philosopher's Stone out of her pocket.

"Claire, what are you doing?! Valda... he _tortured_ us..." Claudia said, starting to cry.

"I know. That's why I'm doing this." She placed the Stone in the golden cup, and briefly held it over the abyss. She then wafted the fumes over to Valda's nose, letting him breathe it in.

"Thank you... I may have use for you yet."

"No." She grabbed Valda, dragging him and holding him over the pit. "The sky might burn. But you... you will be in this pit for all eternity, burning in a hell on earth." She lowered him a bit. "Enjoy your stay."

She dropped him. As he fell, he simply laughed, pulling out a green, ancient-looking coin with a dragon engraved on it, and throwing it farther into the pit.

A moment of silence followed. Then there was a loud roaring sound. An earthquake started.

Mrs. Frederic appeared. "Get out, NOW!" They got out, but not before they saw a colossal, golden dragon fly out of the pit, with Valda on its back, still laughing. "Thank you! Thank you so much. You have led me one step closer to the Staff. Now, Alexander! Let's see what we can do, shall we?"

The dragon flew away, but turned back, a pitifully sad look in its eyes. It dropped from its talons a tablet, which landed in Pete's arms. Claudia took a peek at it, having undone her and her adoptive father's bonds as Valda was falling into the pit.

Ασφαλής από το χείλος της καταστροφής, από την άλλη πλευρά του κόσμου, βρίσκεται ένα καταφύγιο για τους θεούς, κατά μήκος μεγαλύτερο των υδάτων και προστατεύονται από τις ανάσες των ψηλών κόκκινα δέντρα ... όταν ο ουρανός καίει, η αποθήκη πρέπει να είναι ασφαλή εκεί.

"Well, it's all Greek to me. Myka?"

"Seriously, the nerd jokes are getting old." The team gave her a look. "Oh, fine. It actually is Greek, and it says... 'Safe from the brink of destruction, on the other side of the world, lies a haven for the gods, along the greatest of the waters and protected by the breaths of tall red trees... when the sky burns, the Warehouse shall be safe there.'"

"Cryptic, great. Just what we need," Pete grumbled.

"It's referring to a place. We have to go find Abigail, now." Artie said.

"Why?"

"Before she was a psychology major, she studied geography. Now let's go, what are we waiting for?"


	4. Claire's Visions

**A/N: Thank you to all who have reviewed. Also, a thank you to purpleswans, who was kind enough to be the beta reader for this story.**

"So, Claire..." Claudia began in a cautious tone as she broke every speed limit there was down the road to the B&B.

"You were going to ask how I knew about all of that?" asked Claire.

"Um, yeah! Did you even consider that since I'm your sister and your friend, that you might have told me you knew more than you told me you did? Seriously, sis, what's the deal?"

Claire sighed and sat back in her seat. "Well, you told me Pete has vibes about things, right?"

"Wait. You have vibes, too?"

"Yeah. But they're always about artifacts, and they're more detailed. I don't just get a feeling, I know what's happening to people, especially to people I care about. I've had them ever since the thing with the music box. It's like it left something behind."

"So, how does it work?"

"I have... I guess you would call them 'visions'. I see the items involved, which I guess are artifacts, and I immediately know how they work. Then, I see the people that... that would be affected by them..." Claire broke down sobbing.

"Hey, it's okay."

"No. No, it's not okay. When the music box took control of me, it's like I became the embodiment of the artifact. Hell, I _was_ the damn music box. I saw the music box, I saw me, I saw our parents. Then, I saw our parents dead, in the car, only moments later realizing that it was real."

"Hey, I forgive you. And for the record, you were kind of a badass for a bit there, so you have it in you to save the people you love. So, let's get Valda before he goes all Daenerys Targaryen on us."

Claire looked confused. "And when we're done, you and I will watch all the episodes of Game of Thrones, because it looks like you're missing out."

"Okay. Let's do this."


	5. Unity

"So, we're going to Switzerland? Why?" Claudia asked as Artie led the team through the airport.

"Any guesses?" Artie replied.

"Wait. Joshua? Why?"

"You'll see."

"Joshua's in Switzerland?" Claire had a worried look.

"Yeah. What's wrong?" Claudia asked.

"Claudia... I don't know if I can do this. What if he thinks I'm just a ghost? Or a zombie? Oh my god, he'll think I'm a zombie!"

"Hey, it's okay. And a ghost would be more likely."

"Sorry, panic attack I guess. So how's Steve?" Claire asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"He's okay, he's taking some R&R right now."

"Oh." She had a sheepish grin on her face.

"Oh my god, you're totally hot for him."

"No. No, I'm not. I hate him."

"You're lying."

Claudia and Claire both jumped half a foot into the air. "Not cool, Steve! Not cool!"

"Sorry. Not to disappoint you, Claire, but I'm gay. And involved. And now Claudia's going to tease me to no end for not telling her." Steve sighed and started to meditate. "Proceed, Claude."

There was an awkward silence. Claire broke it by saying, "So, who is it? I'd like to meet him. I mean, you're an amazing person, so I'm guessing whoever you're with is too."

"Well, yeah..."

"I believe you have met him." Joshua came up along beside them, smiling at Claire.

Another awkward silence followed. Claudia spoke up, "Let me say this for the second time in my career as a Warehouse agent... ahem... THIS IS AMAZEBALLS!"

"Sorry, children, the reunion will have to wait. There's an immortal riding a dragon that we have to protect the Warehouse from." Artie walked over to the now-reunited Donovan family. His expression softened. "If we make this, I'm inviting over the remaining members of that band Garbage you guys really like. But we have to go now."

At the name "Garbage", Claire grinned, squealed, and hopped around like a jack-rabbit with a horribly tragic cocaine addiction. They eventually followed him and the rest of the team.


	6. Awkwardness

"Artie, you still haven't told us what we're doing at CERN," Myka said, trying to catch up with him.

"Hello, agents." Mrs. Frederic said, appearing in front of them. A man walked over beside her. "Ah, Burt. Nice to see you again. I see you grew out your mustache. Agents, this is Dr. Burt Reynolds, the Regents' contact at CERN."

"Um, wait. Burt friggin' Reynolds works here?" Claire asked.

"Must be a coincidence. And I'm afraid that if anyone asks, you must say the same or face treason charges." He chuckled to himself. "Now, to the Sanctum we go."

"I thought it wasn't used anymore," Steve said.

"The new one. And it's where no one would expect it." Burt stopped. There were a bunch of double bunk beds, with people sleeping in them. One of them was taken up by Jane Lattimer, and on the other side was Adwin Kosan.

"Wait, you dragged us out here to show me my mom sleeping with Mr. Kosan?! What... the FRAKK, dude!"

"You have to get in bed, too." Burt said calmly. "The one up there." He pointed to the bed above the two mentioned Regents.

"Is this a joke? Please tell me it's a joke. I_'_m not having sex with _any_ of you," Claire said, folding her arms. "Sorry, Steve."

"Oh, give me a break!" Artie huffed impatiently. "None of us are doing... that. We're having a collective dream. The Regents thought that it would be the most secure place to have meetings in light of recent events. Now, Claire goes in that bed with Steve. Joshua, you're with me. Myka, you're... obviously with Pete. Abigail, you're with Claudia. Irene, you're... by yourself. And, Burt..."

"Can't I go with Irene?" Burt asked.

"No, Burt, you cannot. You set the placement of each agent's beds on purpose, did you not?" Mrs. Frederic asked in an accusing voice.

"Hey, I thought it would be funny."

"Consider yourself with Trailer," said Mrs. Frederic with no trace of amusement. The Warehouse dog appeared beside Burt, panting and wagging his tail.

"You know, Burt," Claire added, "I didn't like you in any of your films. Now, Steve, get in my goddamn bed!"

Steve facepalmed, but got into bed with Claire anyway. He found it odd how much Claire reminded him of Claudia, except Claire happened to have a crush on him. Everybody else reluctantly followed suit, and everything went dark.


	7. The Meeting

They appeared in a room filled with a bright light. It had no decorations, save for a single Eye of Horus painted on one of the walls.

Jane stood up, saying, "I think the meeting can begin. Myka, you said that when the dragon flew away, it dropped a tablet with an inscription written in Greek, right?"

"Yes," Myka said. "The translation was, 'Safe from the brink of destruction, on the other side of the world, lies a haven for the gods, along the greatest of the waters and protected by the breaths of tall red trees... when the sky burns, the Warehouse shall be safe there.' Artie said it may be referring to a place."

Abigail spoke up. "That would be correct. The first clue is 'on the other side of the world.' It means it's in the Western Hemisphere, since the Macedonian Empire was in the Eastern Hemisphere."

"Why the Macedonian Empire, though?" Joshua asked.

"Valda referred to the dragon as 'Alexander' when he flew off. Alexander the Great was not only the ruler of the Macedonian Empire, but also the first Caretaker of Warehouse 1," Mrs. Frederic explained. "Rumor has it that Alexander somehow cheated death, so one could assume that the dragon is Alexander, just in a different form."

"The second clue is 'along the greatest of the waters,'" Abigail continued. "That means it is located on the Pacific Ocean. The last clue is 'protected by the breaths of tall red trees.' 'Tall red trees' would mean it's in a redwood forest. The 'breaths' they mention is the fog that many redwood forests produce. I can only think of a few places that match this, but I would think it would be somewhere in Patrick's Point State Park in northern California."

"So, the premonitions you've been having about the Warehouse doesn't mean that Warehouse 13 is shutting down, does it?" Artie asked Mrs. Frederic. "It means that it's just going to be in a different place."

"Yes, Arthur, I believe so." Mrs. Frederic replied. "I also think I know why Valda is doing this. He lived the same day twice, which has the same negative effect as Magellan's Astrolabe had on Arthur."

"He started to become apathetic to existence, and slowly turned against humanity itself, vowing to destroy it in the worst way he could think of," Artie said, his voice quivering. He remembered what had happened after he used the Astrolabe, and it scared him to the point of nausea.

"I'm afraid so. Valda died in the Test of the Body in Warehouse 2. His body was destroyed, but the nature of the test dictates that the mind and soul are kept intact. When the alternate Valda came into our timeline, his original soul still remained in the lost Warehouse. Thus, he fulfilled the Astrolabe's prophecy without even using the artifact itself. Valda was resurrected, and the darkness within him eventually took over."

"When exactly did the darkness take over?" asked Joshua.

"I – I think I know," Claudia stammered. "It was probably when Valda tortured me and Artie; I saw something change in his eyes. Before Claire walked in, he even threatened to... do something worse to me, too..." Claudia was crying.

"Remind me to kill Valda slowly when I get to him," Steve fumed.

"Remind all of us to do that," Joshua said, equally as furious.

"First we have to move the Warehouse," Mrs. Frederic said. "Again, I know this is something even I can't stop. The Warehouse must be protected. Oh, and Steven?" The Caretaker turned to the young agent. "If I catch you torturing anyone, even Valda himself, I won't hesitate to pull my own gun on you. This is no place for that despicable behavior, and I was a fool for thinking otherwise two years ago."

"I'll still want to."

"I know. I will most likely be tempted to as well. But you and I, and everyone else here, must refrain from the use of torture."

"Right you are," said Artie. "Now, let's find Valda and see if we can stop him."


	8. Where Do Dragons Go?

For the first time since rising out of the center of the Earth, Alexander spoke. "Do you not realize that the team of Warehouse 13 will come after you? They will be looking for ways to stop you, and let me remind you that these are the best agents we have ever had. I would know; my soul has been watching since the very first Warehouse was built."

"They will come, yes. But they won't be able to stop me," Valda replied smugly. "Keep flying, Alexander."

The dragon landed. "No. I will not carry you to the world's death any further," Alexander said, shaking his head as best as a dragon could.

"That's where you're wrong," Valda said quietly. He pulled out Cecil DeMille's riding crop, and forced Alexander to fly, twisting his immense form into odd, grotesque, and painful positions.

BACK IN SWITZERLAND...

The team headed out of CERN. Clouds were forming in a line, and then spreading outward. "I don't think clouds usually do that," Abigail said.

"I don't think so, either. Also, I think we've found the dragon," said Artie, his voice grim. Up in the air, there was a golden dragon at the leading end of the formation of the clouds.

"Looks like Dr. Evil is using an artifact. Any ideas?" asked Pete.

"Remember that pipe that controls the weather that we snagged? I think that could be it," Myka offered as a suggestion.

"That would be correct, well done," Valda gloated, seeming to have thrown his voice toward the team. "I'll even give you a hint as to what I'm doing, since you'll be dead soon anyway. When the world is covered in clouds, I shall make them tinderboxes. When they burn, say goodbye to your souls. Black flame is tricky to handle. I'm sure Claudia will be able to figure out where I'm going. I must say, I enjoyed spending time with her and her pretend father."

"Can I at least be the one to kill him?" Steve asked Mrs. Frederic.

"Yes, I believe so," she responded, sounding shaken.

Claudia was half-crying, but working on her laptop. It was a sort of defense mechanism for her. "Guys, I think I know where he's headed. Take a look," she said in a faint voice.

"Claude, are you okay?" Joshua asked.

"You can tell us anything, you know," added Claire. Joshua gave his sister an annoyed look. He was a bit irritated that Claire had been hitting on Steve; he was Steve's boyfriend, after all. He let it go for the moment because knew that this was about Claudia, not him.

"It's fine," Claudia said, wiping some tears from her face. "I made a map on Quantum GIS, which is some mapping software I got recently. It involved mapping out the places where local news stories were found containing the phrase 'golden dragon.' Then I added time data, and with that, I approximated the route they took. The place that it looks like they're going to is somewhere in the Himalayas."

"Of course, it's Mount Everest!" exclaimed Abigail. "If Valda wants to literally 'burn the sky,' they would have to be at a high place. So, the best place to do it would be at the summit of the highest mountain in the world."

"I guess we're going to Mount Everest," said Myka.


	9. Airplane

The plane ride to Mount Everest was beautiful, but seemed a bit too long for the Warehouse team. However, this made it the perfect opportunity for conversation.

"Pete, I want to talk to you about something," Myka said to Pete. She had requested to be seated next to him.

"I know, these peanuts are rotten! How long do you think they've been sitting there?" Pete responded, sounding irritated.

"Pete..." Myka sighed.

"I know, right? It's blasphemy against airplane food, which is hard to do since most airplane food is usually blasphemous to food in general! How does that even happen?" Pete was rambling. Myka put a finger on his lips.

"Pete, I wanted to talk about your idea of having kids," Myka blurted out quickly before Pete could say anything else about the admittedly bad food. "I don't know if I want to be pregnant."

Pete looked down at his tray sadly. He then perked up, an idea forming in his mind. "Myka, what do you think about adoption? It'd be okay if you didn't want to, but I definitely wouldn't mind it."

"I didn't think you'd suggest that. It seems like I underestimated you," she said, grinning. "Yeah, I think that would be just fine."

They kissed each other and went to sleep.

* * *

Claudia was showing Claire the first episode of Game of Thrones on her tablet as they passed over the northern coast of California. Claire decided the show was too violent for her, so they looked out the window for a while. Claudia saw a bay below them with tall red trees just inland.

"So that's the new Univille, huh?" Claudia mused.

"I guess. What's the name of the town?" asked Claire.

"Well, according to the GPS, it's Arcata."

"Can I maybe move in with you guys? I mean, I'm definitely not agent material, but..."

"Claire, I'm going to tell you something Artie told me once. You will live your life the way you want to. I will make sure of that," Claudia responded. "If you want to be an agent, you can be. If you don't, you won't have to."

Claire smiled. "Thanks, Claudia."

* * *

Steve was sitting next to Joshua, who was looking depressed. Suddenly, Joshua turned to Steve. "Why do you think Claire likes you?" he asked.

"I don't know, maybe it's my sense of humor," Steve replied.

"I love you, Steve, but your jokes are awful."

"Sorry. I seriously don't know why she's attracted to me, but I'd let this one go. I mean, I'm pretty sure Claude has a thing for me too. But people can be close friends and not be romantically involved with each other, and I think Claire can eventually accept that and move on." Joshua looked even more worried at Steve's mention of Claudia liking him as well.

Steve continued, "Joshua, I'm always going to love you. You have two sisters who are alive today. My sister is gone. If I could somehow spend any more time with her, I wouldn't waste it by being upset with her."

There was a brief pause. "How do you always know how to calm me down, Steve?" Joshua asked, smiling.

"I meditate a lot."

"Your jokes are getting better." They both laughed.

* * *

Later, as they were flying over Hawaii, Artie and Mrs. Frederic looked worried. "Mrs. Frederic..." Artie began.

"Stop it," she snapped. "None of this 'Mrs. Frederic' business anymore, we've been through too much. You may call me 'Irene' from now on."

"Okay... Irene, what's the significance of the coin that Valda threw in the Lehmann Fornax?"

"The Coin of the Golden Dragon. It contains Alexander the Great's soul. Upon striking the magma chamber of the Earth, it places the soul of the ancient Macedonian emperor into the nearest corpse."

Artie looked stunned. "Wait, so there is a corpse of a giant dragon near the center of the Earth?"

"There _was_. Valda must have sent Alexander's soul into the dragon's body. I believe he needed that specific dragon, the one that breathes black fire." She sighed. "Arthur, there was a time before artifacts. It all started with a soldier in the Etruscan army named Curtus Godel. He was ahead of his time, but like many other similar people, he was a lunatic. The Romans were using dragons at the time to conquer the Etruscan civilization. Curtus and his men killed all of the dragons, save one that he captured for himself. It breathed black fire."

"So what's special about black fire?"

"It separates a soul from its body. Godel hid the dragon he had captured after the Romans had won, and interrogated the dragon in terrible ways to obtain the knowledge of how to create the unique flames himself. He then massacred the entire population of the Roman capital with black flame. With nowhere else to go, the souls contained themselves in items. These were the first artifacts. The dragon was cast down into Mount Vesuvius, and Godel was executed. After Rome was rebuilt, all records of dragons being used and of the massacre were redacted by the new Roman emperor."

Artie shuddered. "So if the sky burns with black fire, it will be worse than we could ever imagine."

"I'm afraid so."

* * *

To the front of Abigail, there was a woman with long, black hair. She looked familiar to Abigail, as if she had seen her in a photograph before. She was wearing headphones.

"Helena?" Abigail asked the woman. The woman sighed and turned around, taking off her headphones.

"Yes," the woman replied in a British accent. "I am H.G. Wells, and I am hunting Valda as well."


	10. Ascent

"Wait, Helena?" Myka asked in shock. "Why are you here?"

Helena opened her mouth to speak, but the wing of what looked like the dragon knocked the helicopter off course.

"ALEXANDER!" Helena cried. The helicopter went into a tailspin. Down and down it went, faster until the door of the craft was unhinged. All the alarms were going off, and the air was whipping and screaming past them as they plummeted further down to the icy ground that was the base of the Himalayas. After what seemed like an eternity, the helicopter met the ice, a fireball in a wasteland of snow.

Everyone was alive, but badly bleeding. Artie crawled over to his bag, and pulled out a tourniquet. "This was used... in the War of 1812... to aid the American forces -"

"Arthur, I think the explanation can wait. Besides, hearing Americans talk about the War of 1812 makes me rather uncomfortable," muttered Helena.

"Good point," Artie agreed. He wrapped it around everyone's arm in turn, and they all were healed. "You may not want to board any ships in the next seven hours, though," he added.

"So, how did you get on board?" Pete asked.

"I used the thimble to impersonate a Regent, and told security that it was urgent that I got on the helicopter," admitted Helena. "I know I am most likely going to be in trouble, but I had to do this. I'm sorry, Mrs. Frederic."

"If we make this, you will be forgiven. This is far worse than anything we have ever faced, and I feel I may not get through this," Mrs. Frederic said. "We need all the help we can manage. But I do need to ask... why did you need to come along?"

"Dragons are clever creatures. Every 500 years, each one walks the earth as a mortal man. At one time, Alexander was my husband. He was Christina's father. I suspect Christina was killed because she was a child of a dragon. Some certain people found out, and... well, you know what happened then." Helena looked away as she said this.

There was a pause. "Oh, and I went with you in particular because I knew Valda would try and stall you. That's why I brought these." She reached into her purse and pulled out a gigantic pair of wings.

"The Wings of Daedalus, nice!" Pete exclaimed. "But it probably won't levitate all of us."

"The Tesla is the spatula of artifacts, I've found it can do a lot," Claudia bragged. "Stand back."

She shot it with the Tesla, and then said, "There, I expanded the range of influence. Nothing like electric energy to increase artifact properties, huh? Now, all of us should probably touch it at once."

They did, and flew up into the sky towards the summit.


End file.
